Celebrate This
by Rainpebbles
Summary: Part 4.5 of Impala Series. A holiday fic set in between the events in Honor Bound and Ain't We Just. The crew of the Impala are bummed out after Dean has declared that the holiday's didn't have a place on his ship. But with some help, Dean begins to see that maybe some family time is just what everyone needs. Sort of Xover with Christmas carol. Sabriel and developing Destiel.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: Okay, this is my little holiday fic. Fluff fluff fluff and some more fluff! And perhaps even some drama thrown in there. And yes, it's a crossover of SPN/Firefly/Christmas Carol (Is that even allowed?) I tried to make this as P.C. as possible, not too religious and also adding in some Hanukkah stuff. If one is offended by Christmas in anyway….I suggest not reading holiday fics.

P.S. This is a holiday fic.

Also…..This is going off of the Muppet Christmas carol….so just FYI…it's not as wondrous as Charles Dickens….

Disclaimer: I don't own SPN. I don't own Firefly. And I do not own Christmas…..but if I did I would totally be that overly happy Spirit of Christmas Present XD

* * *

CHAPTER 1

_**A few Days After The Events in Honor Bound - **but before Castiel's talk with his brothers._

This sucked. This sucked so hard that Dean couldn't even begin to describe how pissed he was without his face turning blue.

He bent over to scoop up yet another cow patty off of the floor of his beloved ship. They seemed to be never ending, and Dean's toes kept on getting stepped on in the crowded hold by their latest job. Harrow's cargo had turned out to be two hundred full sized COWS. Living cows too, all expected to make it alive to their destination. So here Dean was, trying to lessen the horrendous smell and mess as much as possible, and the rest of the crew all decided that they had other, more urgent things needed to be done around the ship than help care for the cows.

Whatever he had done to deserve this, Dean was ready to get on his knees to beg for forgiveness. This unholy desecration of his ship would have been enough to raise his blood pressure to dangerous levels, but his crew seemed to be trying extra hard to mess with him even further today.

Each of them had come up to him with some ridiculous request after another, all with the same damn excuse.

It's Christmas Eve, Dean.

Dean was quite aware what the date was, but that didn't change the fact that there were two hundred eating, chewing, smelling, crapping cows on his gorramn ship! Angrily he scooped up another pile of steaming…

"You seem angry, why are you angry?" Asked Castiel quietly from above him on the catwalk, his head tilted to one side.

His mental tirade interrupted, Dean sighed and straightened his back, trying to work out the kink that had been developing slowly as he continued to work. "I'm pissed, not angry," he informed the young man, glancing up at the catwalk that held him.

"I do not understand the difference," Cas mumbled, still very confused.

"I'm pissed that everyone trying to shirk their responsibilities to deck the halls instead of clean them!" He said agitatedly. He scooped at another patty a little too hard and it just ended up skidding across the floor.

Dean didn't move after it, he just glared and decided he needed to rant to someone, and lucky Cas happened to be right there. "Sam was the first one, he actually asked if we could stop at a planet to pick up a tree today. A tree!"

"It is a well known tradition of Christianity practices where they would pick a tree, most commonly pine…" Dean cut Cas' lecture off.

"I know what he wanted the tree for, Cas. But stopping on a planet to pick one up, especially when we have a deadline to deliver these cows…it's just dumb." Dean leaned on his shovel, glaring at the cow in front of him, as if daring it to drop another load.

Castiel nodded, but didn't look like he agreed totally. Dean went to pick up the last patty he saw in the hold when he heard a splat behind him. Never ending supply indeed. Dean decided that he needed to rant some more now. Lifting his arms helplessly in the air, shovel still in hand, he looked at his friend again, pleading for sympathy with his eyes.

"It's not just Sam either! Bobby and Anna wanted to break rations to make a feast! The idea is nice and all, but it's not like we have a ham stored away anywhere! It's all just protein blocks. Hard to make a feast out of it, and why waste what little we have on something that isn't even going to taste good. Bobby even asked if he could hold a service before dinner!"

Cas looks like he was about to answer but Dean cut him off to continue, "And Chuck came bumbling through the halls earlier with our spare parts and light bulbs all strung up on a chain, claiming that they were a "string of lights". It looked like some medieval torture device! And we might need those spare parts!"

Cas tried to comment again, but Dean was really on a roll, "I caught Gabriel putting up mistletoe in every hallway on this ship, in the oven, in the control room, in every friggn cupboard, in the bathroom! Balthazar is pretending that he is a decent singer and won't stop spouting carols…. it seems the only sane ones on this ship besides me, are you and Meg!" He finished with a lowered shout. He didn't want to startle the cows anyhow. He looked at the silent Cas, frustration rolling off his shoulders.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" He asked impatient.

Cas paused, seeing if Dean was actually finished before answering, "Well, I wouldn't actually call me sane…"He said deadpan.

Dean threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

* * *

Dean was washing his hands back in his room, trying to get them sterile after that less than sanitary experience. He stood up once he felt they were clean enough and smiled happily, until he noticed that his clothed reeked. He scrunched up his nose in distaste and started tearing off the clothes to put on fresh ones. Today was just not his day.

It wasn't that he hated the holiday. Really he didn't think about it much. It had never been a big deal when he was growing up. Dad had always kept them on the move, so there was no decorating the house for the holiday. They had no other family besides themselves, so they didn't go to visit anyone. And they didn't have his mother there to bake them a wonderful feast.

Dean wouldn't say that he never regretted not having that holiday experience, but he wasn't about to drop his responsibilities to fool around for a day.

Pulling on a new shirt he left his cabin to seek out his crew and make sure that they were actually following his orders and not dashing through snow that Chuck had made out of torn up toilet paper and one of the fans...

* * *

His trek was to the engine room first where he found his mechanic struggling with his earlier creation. He was completely tangled in the chains where they were hanging off his arms and shoulders making clanging sounds every time he moved.

"I thought I told you to dismantle that thing," Dean said testily.

Chuck looked to him helplessly, "I'm trying, I just got all tangle while doing so." He really looked pitiful as he said this. He probably really was trying to get it all sorted out.

"Well hurry it up, I want you to double check the back-up engine and also check the temperature regulator. The cows seem to not like how cold their lodgings are." Dean ordered. Chuck just nodded absently.

"Dean, I know it's not my place, but…maybe you should give everyone else the day off or something. A lot of us could use a mental and emotional vacation." Chuck suggested timidly.

"And I could use a crew that pulled their weight for a change! If we didn't have two hundred gorramn cows trotting around downstairs then maybe I would give you guys a break, but we have a job to do and some dude born thousands of years ago isn't going to get in the way of that!" Dean said and stormed off.

"Something tells me that you might feel differently later. You just have to talk to a few people." Mumbled Chuck as he continued to try and untangle himself.

* * *

Next Dean found Sam sitting alone in the dining area, cleaning the dished from breakfast.

"Sam, I'm going to need you to take care of some things…" But a loud splash from the sink stopped Dean. Sam had dropped the plastic plate he had been washing to turn and address Dean, wearing one of his more common bitch faces, # 4 The "Dean, I want you to open up to me" face.

"Dean, why are you so against us celebrating the holiday? I mean, I get that you want to finish the chores and all, but there would still be time for us to do _something_."

"Sammy, I don't want to deal with that right now. I just want those damn cows fed so that they can continue making messes for us to pick up. Now finish the dishes and then go find Meg and Balthazar and get to work. And I'm going to be stopping by at some point so I can see Balthazar's face as he's working in the hold, so I better not find you guys slacking." Dean said, accusatory finger pointed to Sam's chest.

_Sigh_, "Yes, Dean."

* * *

"I can't believe him! He did this on purpose! He is trying to ruin the last set of decent clothes that I have left simply because he is jealous of me! And what a Grinch too! No, no, we can't have a Christmas, that would be too happy and would mess up my brooding schedule and disrupt my balance of man pain!" Balthazar mocked as they shoveled out the hay.

"Chill dude, it's just how Dean does the holidays. If he works hard enough he doesn't notice how much the holidays actually bother him." Said Sam soothingly, but he may have threw the hay with a little more force than necessary.

Meg grunted from behind, "Whatever, family holidays suck ass anyway. But I would have liked to have the day off at least. I'm not getting paid enough to shovel shit _and_ put up with _his _shit."

Bobby walked into the hold and wrinkled up his nose at the smell, "Well, I thought I might lend a hand here, but if you've got it all covered…" He started to walk away quickly, obviously not expecting the chore to be so daunting.

"Oh no preacher man, pull up a pitch fork." Meg said warningly and Bobby walked back reluctantly, taking one of the offered tools and mentally preparing himself for the work ahead.

"Oh balls. At least I'm somewhat used to this. We had a little barn at my old Abbey where we kept a few cows for Sheppard Warrick's morning milk cravings. We even had a few chickens running around. Once a year we were allowed to choose one of the chickens for our Christmas feast. Easter we would choose one of the pigs." Bobby was smiling nostalgically as he started to shovel at the mess. The sharing of his memory was a welcome distraction for the others in the hold, and they listened intently, wanting to hear more.

"What else did you do to celebrate?" Asked Balthazar leaning on his pitch fork.

Bobby looked up surprised that anyone would be interested in his past holiday experiences, but he answered dutifully. Perhaps sharing would pass the time faster."Oh, the usual, ran a Christmas service, had a nice tree set up in the commons room. Extra prayer time….but I'll tell you my favorite part. It was the nuns."

Sam and Meg snorted and Balthazar openly laughed, startling one of the cows next to him. He patted it's side to calm it down again, smile still on his face.

The preacher gave them all a reproachful look. "Not like that, ya idjits. It was their singing. You never hear such singing from them until Christmas time. Normal hymns are beautiful through the year, but they are all about worship and respect for God, even a little bit on the overbearing side of things. But… Christmas, the songs are about celebrating the Birth. Much more lively and always with joyous feelings. Songs practically make you feel warm and toasty inside just from hearin' 'em. It really makes a difference." Bobby said wistfully.

Sam smiled softly at this, he could almost hear those lovely choruses.

"We used to sing in a chorus at church when we were children," murmured Balthazar.

"Even Gabe?" Asks Sam his voice full of doubt. He mentally pictured a young Gabriel in one of the chorus risers, doing bunny ears of moose antlers to the poor kid in front of him during a song. Sam lost the thought when the very subject's voice entered the room.

"You'd be surprised Sammy-doodle. Back in the day I used to be a well behaved alter boy, a picturesque angel child. All three of us were." Gabriel had appeared in the hold, obviously sneaking out from whatever corner he was using to hide from Dean in. Initial surprise lost, Sam smiled at Gabe…and then handed him a pitch fork, receiving a dirty glare in payment. Now the five of them went to work, but it was only silent for about a minute before curiosity got the better of the Sheppard.

"What were Christmas' like in the Novak household?" Inquired Bobby, glancing between Gabriel and Balthazar. The two brothers shrugged at each other and Gabriel took the lead.

"They were small. Just us three usually. But I'll have to say that one of my favorites was Cassy-baby's second one. He was maybe a year and a half old by then, and we were still not sure what to make of the little drool monster." Gabriel started, laughing at whatever memories were floating through his mind. Balthazar picked up on those memories and continued the story.

"Oh, yes. That one. We weren't watching Cassy too closely and he had crawled away under the tree where all of the presents were. Gabe and I were to occupied inspecting the new bicycles that were there that we didn't notice that Cassy had unwrapped everything else with his fat little baby hands and was playing with all of the wrapping paper, tossing it in the air." Balthazar was laughing harder now and Gabe picked up the story again.

"Once we finally took notice, we were a little angry. Ripping off the paper was part of the fun of Christmas for us, but when we went up to scold him, he just looked up at us with those big baby blues of his and threw paper at our faces and screamed, "Cown-fetti! Isa pawade!" And we just melted. Little goober was just too damn cute. I think we all had more fun with the paper that year than we did with the presents!" Gabriel's eyes were surprisingly red looking at the end of the story. Sam was happy to know that even the troubled Novak family had a few good Christmas memories.

"What about you and Dean? What were the Winchester holidays like?" Asked Bobby softly, just in case it was a sensitive subject. But Sam smiled softly.

"They were also small. Usually just me and Dean actually, but it was enough. Dean used to try extra hard to give me a real Christmas when I was younger. Once year I woke up to find that he had gone out to cut down a cactus from outside and had tore up an old shirt into a long ribbon to put around it like a garland. Cut his hands to shreds to do it, but he still smiled when I woke up and saw how happy I was to finally have a tree like everyone else." Sam said, smiling softly at the memory.

Dean had always tried to hard to make Sam happy, and to give his little brother a normal Christmas like everyone else. He hoped that Dean knew somehow, deep down, that Sam was forever grateful for that.

He continued on, a faraway look in his eyes as he recalled his own past holidays. "Another Christmas I remember was about five months after I had joined Dean in the war. It was a holiday in the trenches where we celebrated with bad scotch and an extra can of spam. It was our first holiday feast that I can remember." He laughed at this, even the war held some fond memories.

Up on the catwalk, unseen by those below, Dean stood listening to all of the memories of Christmas' past. He also remembers that year he had brought in that stupid cactus. He had pulled needles out of hands for the next month. Times had changed. Sam didn't need to be coddled anymore. If Sam was still that 6 year old who cried when he found out that their dad wouldn't be around for Christmas again, then maybe Dean would have stopped on a planet to pick up a tree. But they were grown up now, even over-grown in Sam's case, and didn't hold fantasies of picturesque family holidays. He shook his head and walked off.

Behind all of them Meg appeared to be ignoring the nostalgia, but if the men were to move closer to her, they might have heard her humming what sounded like the dradle song under her breath.

* * *

Woo! That was a long chapter. But I was happy to get so much into one. I got "Scrooge's" chained warning ghost (Chuck) and the ghost of christmas past (the whole crew kind of) in there. Next chapter will be posted tomorrow and will have the spirit of christmas present!


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: Chappie two! Yay! This one is Dean's adventure with the spirit of Christmas Present or as we all know him, Castiel! Wooo!

Disclaimer: Nope nope nope, ain't mine. But again, fingers crossed that I'll get it for Christmas! :D

* * *

CHAPTER 2

An hour later the crew had actually finished their chores and had all spread out over the ship. It was getting later in the day and Dean was happy that the holiday wouldn't last much longer. He was strolling through the hallways whistling to himself a happy tune, glad that the chores for the day had mostly been done and all that were left were shifts of keeping an eye on the herd. He continued his whistling, hearing the echo of it come off of the metal walls. He then cursed at himself when he realized that tune was Deck the Halls. What the hell was wrong with him?

He continued a string of curses as he continued towards his room, ready to relax a bit before dinner.

"Hello Dean." The captain almost jumped right out of his soiled shoes at the sound of a voice coming from behind him. The sudden appearance of Cas startled Dean in to yet another string of curses. "Jeez Cas! Put a friggin bell on or something!"

Cas looked confused, "I thought you didn't want to decorate for Christmas?"

Dean rubbed at the bridge of his nose, not having the most patience today, even when it came to Cas. "I don't…Just…make noise when you walk okay?"

"I shall endeavor to try, Dean." Cas said solemnly, and he continued to stand there in front of Dean. He was looking sadly at the walls around him, even reaching out a hand to rub the metal panels in some sort of comforting manner.

Dean scrunched up his face in concern, this was not the normal Cas… or maybe it was, but not his "normal" as of late. "Hey Cas, you sure you're okay? You've been kind of down lately."

"I am fine Dean. I am merely….processing," he responded, sounding desolate.

Huh? Now Dean was becoming really confused, he was usually one of the few on this ship that could moderately understand Cas' moods and odd phrasing, but not today it seemed. Was everyone against him today?

"If you're sure…well, umm, what are you up to anyway?" Dean asked, wondering why Cas was trolling around the hallways like a wayward ghost.

"I was simply following the trail of despair." Sighed Cas, leaning heavily upon the wall like there was some heavy weight he was holding. His behavior was really starting to worry Dean. He had never seen Cas this…down before. It was weird, more weird than his crazy rants or conversations with plants.

"Okay…what trail of despair are you talking about? That trail of cow patties that seems to be spreading over the ship because some stupid crew members don't wipe their feet?" Dean asked, somewhat peeved. Maybe Cas was in as much pain as Dean at seeing the spread of dirt over his beloved ship.

Dean got a sour look from Cas before it melted into one of determination."I'll show you." And Cas started walking down the hall, expecting Dean to follow.

The captain stood there for a moment, wondering what to make of Cas, but he couldn't make anything of it right then, so he shrugged to himself. "Guess it's better than taking care of the damn cows again," and Dean jogged to catch up with the other man.

* * *

Cas led them first to the passengers quarters. The place at first seemed completely deserted and Dean was about to change his mind on the whole let's play trail hunting with Cas, but then he heard it. A soft humming coming from Bobby's room. This got his attention, he looked at his friend beside him and raised an eyebrow, silently asking for the next move. Cas jerked his chin in the direction of Bobby's room, and they snuck closer to pear around the corner to get a glimpse into the preacher's quarters.

There he was, bible in hand, humming "Lo How a Rose" softly so himself. He looked lonely, sitting there with his bible. Dean thought back to how he had described his holiday back at the Abbey, the preacher's singing didn't hold the joyous aspect that Bobby had mentioned, but that was probably because the Sheppard was sitting there alone without a choir to join him. It sounded like there were always others around to share the religious aspects and joy of the holiday back at his abbey, even if they weren't family. No wonder Bobby looked lonely.

Then Dean caught sight of the tumbler of whiskey in his other hand. That made the captain's stomach drop. He didn't know if Preachers were able to drink back at the Abbey, but he was pretty sure that Bobby had been drinking a lot more since the Croat incident than he had ever before.

Here the Shepherd was, his first Christmas since his faith was shaken, and he wasn't even allowed to celebrate it the only way he knew how. Dean had vetoed his request for a service, and he had also declined the idea of a feast.

Bobby raised the tumbler to his lips for another sip. Cas chose this moment to pull at Dean's arm, encouraging him to leave now, so Dean nodded and glanced back at the preacher once more before they tip-toed off.

Dean felt poorly about it as he and Cas slunk away. Once they were out of earshot Cas turned to Dean as if to ask what he thought about his no Christmas ruling now, but he didn't actually say anything. His expressive eyes said enough.

The captain wasn't so easily swayed, "I get it. It's been a rough holiday for him, but the old man's got spunk. He'll pull through stronger for it. God doesn't have a place out here in the black, so neither should Christmas. And he's still got all of us if he's felling lonesome." Dean stated firmly.

Cas sighed wearily and trudged on, gesturing for Dean to continue following.

* * *

They next moved into the hallway leading to the control room, Cas hugged the wall as they moved up to the room silently, and Dean copied him, even though he felt like an idiot for doing it. It was his gorramn ship after all. Why should he be sneaking around like a stowaway!?

Getting closer Dean could hear Gabriel and Sam's voices.

"So, should we celebrate our own way tonight after everyone else has gone to bed? Including and especially Captain sour-pants?" Came Gabriel's voice.

Sam sounded weary with his response, "I don't think that is going to happen, Gabe. Dean put me on the midnight to five shift for watching the cows. By the time I get done I'll be too tired for anything. Also you have the shift right after me," Sam reminded the pilot, sounding less than happy with the set-up.

Dean could hear Gabriel moan piteously. "Damn. You're right. Guess any sort of Christmas shenanigans are out of the question…." He paused and scoffed before continuing, sounding a little more on edge. " I should be used to this I suppose. I've been on this ship for five years with you guys, but this is the first year the no holiday rule has ever really bothered me." Gabriel said bitterly.

Dean took this moment to move a little closer to the control room, peaking around the corner of the hallway so that he could catch a partial glimpse into the room. He saw Gabriel and Sam seated in the two pilots chairs, half turned towards each other and half turned towards the stars. Sam seemed to be fiddling with some pilot papers, and Gabriel was absently inspecting his nails.

Sam didn't respond for a moment, just started at the papers in his large hands. But when he answered it was in a soft and sympathetic voice and he looked up to meet Gabriel's eyes. "That's because it's different this year. You have your family back and you have been thinking all day about how you used to spend Christmas. Also the whole "life getting turned upside down and you just want some sort of normalcy" thing might be part of why you're feeling it more this year." Sam smirked and tossed a piece of crumpled up paper at Gabriel.

Gabriel picked it right back up and threw it back smiling a little as if he was proud that Sam could do something so childish, "That's true I suppose. It's been twelve years since I last spent a Christmas with Balth and Cassy- doodle." He paused a moment and looked at Sam with a completely honest and open look, "It's also happens to be _our_ first holiday together-together." Gabriel gave Sam a meaningful look.

The realization hit Sam hard. A year ago, Gabe had still been Trickster, the prankster who flirted unashamedly with Sam all the time, but never actually made a real move. It wasn't until Gabriel's identity was revealed that Gabe allowed himself to act upon his feelings and he and Sam were finally able to get closer.

And now they weren't able to really enjoy their first holiday together.

Gabriel seemed to be following his trail of thought and got up from his pilot's chair to move up to Sam.

"So we should take what little we can in what little time we have," he said softly, running his fingers through Sam's hair.

Sam smiled and grabbed hold of Gabe's hand to hold in his own, "Yeah, let's just forget about Dean."

Gabriel smirked, "I usually try to put Dean out of my mind anyway when we do _stuff_ anyway."

He and Gabriel laughed happily and moved closer.

Out in the hallway Dean turned away, not wanting to intrude on their tender moment…and also cause he did not want to see his little brother making out with Gabriel. He and Cas then walked down the hall, Cas steering them to the back of the ship.

_Forget about Dean…._

* * *

Cas had started humming again when they continued on. It didn't seem like his frantic humming that signaled a break-down, but it was more of the happy one that he did around his plant.

It appeared that Cas was taking them to the engine room. He could hear Chuck tinkering around in there, which was no surprise. What was a surprise though was Meg's voice among the clanging.

"If I have to scoop up one more patty tonight, I swear I'm gonna slip it into the Captain's bed." She grouched loudly to be heard over Chucks hammering.

Dean crept forward quickly, eager to see the happenings in the room, Cas not far behind.

Dean saw as Chuck paused and looked up at Meg's last comment, "Are you serious?! If you do that then he'll kill you…and then I'll have to take an extra cow shift to cover you. It's bad enough that he's making me fix the temp gauge today. I'm gonna smell like coolant for a week." He whined.

"Better than smelling like cow crap." She snapped, clearly miserable.

Chuck seemed to consider that, "Yeah, I suppose you're right." He went back to working.

Dean was able to glance in to the room without being seen. He saw Chuck right where he should be, fixing that temp gauge. Meg was surprisingly lounging on the ground near the tool box. It looked like she might have been handing him tools as he worked.

It didn't look like much else was happening, and Dean grew bored quickly. There was a long silence, and Dean turned to leave, but upon turning he was given a hard look from Cas that had him reconsidering and staying a little bit longer. He didn't have to wait long.

Chuck paused again in his adjustments, "Not that I'm not happy with your help and all, but you don't like me, and you always tell me that you hate the engine room…"

Meg gave him a sour face, "Don't get your panties in a bunch ya pansy. I'm just hiding from Dean in here. It'll be my shift with the cows soon and I don't plan on being around for it." She tossed a wrench at him, which he awkwardly caught. Turning back to his work he continued to voice his curiosities, "Oh. I thought you might be lonely or something. You don't talk about you family much, and no one can help but think about family this time of year."

"Oh shut up. I never celebrated Christmas growing up. Not my family's thing. I agree with Dean's anti Christmas attitude, I just don't agree with his anti-fun attitude. Now get the hell back to work." She added harshly, banging a heavy socket wrench on the metal ground for emphasis.

Chuck continued to work, but he didn't shut up. "My family was huge. We had really big celebration every year. I haven't seen them since I left home to start work…"

Meg rolled her eyes, "Did you guys ever play the quiet game at your big events? Maybe we can re-create that game right now!" She said sarcastically. Finally Chuck complied and the sounds of metal on metal filled the room instead.

Cas grabbed at Dean's arm to pull him away.

Down the hall Dean turned triumphantly to Castiel. "Well that wasn't so bad. They always grouch when I give them work. No big surprise there." Dean mentioned to Cas as they moved along. Cas gave him a dark look as a response and led them towards Anna's shuttle.

* * *

Balthazar was lounging on one of Anna's fancy couches, a cup of tea in hand.

"I want to thank you again for the use of your soap. No amount of water would wash that stench off of my hands," he told the redheaded companion as she tended to the tea in front of her. It looked like she was conducting a real tea ceremony for her and the middle Novak brother.

She laughed gently, "It's not a problem. This cargo seems to have put everyone out of sorts. Especially Dean. But he's was like this last year on the ship as well. The holidays hold little meaning to him it seems." She moved the tea pot off of the heat source to cool for a bit before the leaves started to wither.

A snort came from Balthazar on the couch, "It has put people out indeed. I hope Dean is happy with all of the work that got done today. But now everyone is off sulking in their own way it seems and doesn't even want to try celebrating anymore."

"Is that what we're doing, sulking?" Anna asked innocently.

He looked to the ceiling as if pondering his answer, "I'll admit to being a little saddened that the first holiday I get to spend with Cassy in five years, and the first Christmas with Gabriel since I found out he is alive has been spent elbows deep in that foul mess."

Anna looked up with sad eyes. She truly felt for the brothers. She truly loved having Castiel around to care for like a mother. She liked having Balthazar around to talk about fashion and trends with. And she even liked Gabriel's pranks and sense of humor. The brothers had dealt with too much, and she prayed for them to find some sort of happiness and serenity among the chaos that was their lives.

But Anna also knew that Dean was hurting in his own way, she just didn't say anything because she wasn't sure that Dean knew that he was hurting.

"Well you don't have to have Dean's permission to be thankful for your family being with you, even if you can't express it in the normal holiday traditions," she mentioned casually, taking a sip of the cooling tea.

Her friend considered this, letting the thoughts run through his head and sorting through his feelings on the subject. "That's true. It's not that a Christmas party will fix all that's wrong or falling apart…It's just….a way to forget all that _is_ wrong or falling apart. Even if it's just for one night." Balthazar sighed out.

Anna couldn't disagree with that. She would have enjoyed celebrating her first Christmas with the new and improved crew of the Impala. She had not yet experienced a family holiday since she grew up in the Companion Guild. Missing out on the holiday wasn't painful like it was for the others aboard the Impala, but she longed for it just as badly. She was at least able to spend some quiet time with one of her friends.

"Yes….It would have been nice." She said quietly.

* * *

But Dean had still been able to hear her. He also heard the sad tone to her comment and the regret in Balthazar's wish. He and Cas left soon after and walked slowly away. No real direction. Dean was thinking hard about all that he had just heard, a silent Cas in pace next to him. The captain was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't realize that they had come back to the hold until the smell hit his nose. It brought him back to the present and he sought out his friend.

Turning back to Cas he met a pair of sad blue eyes.

"Cas? Did you want to celebrate the holiday too?" He asked gently.

"I… I was hoping to get some marbles as a gift, so that Meg would cease to insist that I misplaced them. He whispered to Dean, sounding a little lost.

That got a snort out of Dean. "Well, guess we should go get washed up for dinner. It's too late for a party anyway. Maybe next year." And Dean stepped forward to head off to his room, but he didn't notice the cow patty that was under his foot.

He went flying up in the air and crashed down on the ground, hard, hitting his head on the metal floor. The last thing he saw was the fuzzy concerned face of Cas before he blacked out.

* * *

Up next, Dean meets the ghost of Christmas future…but I'll leave his identity a surprise XD


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: So…this chapter is a little trippy. I think I had "The End" episode in my mind when I wrote this. So this would be the Impala Series End!verse I suppose, and you can keep it in mind for the rest of the series as well, because a lot that is in this chapter kind of hints at what might occur later on…

Disclaimer: It's mine! =D Nope, JK…I lied.

* * *

CHAPTER 3

"Wake up."

Dean pried open his eyes, wincing at the pain in his head. He must have gone down hard. Damn metal flooring, damn friggin cows… He closes his eyes again when the light sending stabs of pain straight to his temples.

"Cas?" His voice had sounded different to Dean when he told him to wake up. "Hey Cas, can you fix me up a bit? I've got a jackhammer going off in my head…..Cas?" When he didn't get a response he forced open his eyes again, the face in front of him was blurry, but definitely not Cas.

"Who are you? How the hell did you get on my ship!?"

Shooting up from the floor Dean stumbled away from the stranger. His vision was clearing to show a terrifying looking man. He had black hair, so black it looked more like ink had been poured on his head. He was tall and freakishly skinny, his face emaciated, but it didn't make him look weak. Instead it painted an imposing picture. It was shocking enough that Dean actually found himself too scared to act.

The beady rat-like black eyes were regarding Dean openly, looking him over as if finding each and every one of Dean's faults. When he met Dean's eyes, he finally spoke. A smooth voice that reminded Dean of wind through the trees.

"Dean Winchester. I am Death."

Dean's eyes widened comically.

"Seriously? A reaper?" He asked hysterically. He didn't think he hit the floor that hard.

Death rolled his eyes, seemingly annoyed with Dean's ignorance, "No, The Reaper. Know the difference."

Dean swallowed hard, "So this is it? I'm dead now." He couldn't believe it. How could he have left Sam behind? How could he have just abandoned his crew like this? How did he go out in such a friggin lame way?!

Death sighed heavily, "You have an inflated sense of your importance. They would not send The Reaper to collect you. I'm merely here as a favor to someone." He said it all like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Boss making you work the holiday? That sucks," Dean tried to joke, but it came out more like an awkward giggle forced from fear.

Death was not impressed, "Well it seems to me that you also made your crew work the holiday." He informed Dean, not sounding concerned or judgmental of the fact though. He turned to Dean, fixing him with a sharp glare, "I'm here to show you what will come of you and your friends if you should continue on like you are. So shut up and follow me." And Death turned and snapped his fingers in the air.

Immediately the ship around him changes. Instead of the warm and moderately clean hallways, Dean sees rust and feels a chill in the now stale air. This couldn't be his baby.

"Where the hell are we?!" Demanded Dean.

"We are aboard the Impala eight years from now. Not in the best condition it seems." Death runs his finger over a small section of the wall, bringing it back covered in dust and rust. His face turns down in disgust and he wipes his finger off on his dark jacket.

"No. No Way. I would never let it get like this. Where is everyone? Where is Chuck? He should be fixing this. Chuck!" He shouted angrily.

"No one is here Dean. No one has been here for a long time."

Dean rounded on Death, finger pointed as he yelled at him "Shut up! Someone has to still be around. Sam! Sammy!" The chill that Dean had felt before was now reaching sub-zero levels. The Captain could feel the emptiness coming from his ship creep into his own being, the still and quiet engine made Dean feel like he was in the belly of a corpse and not his baby. Dean's voice was echoing ominously through the hallways. Not a single sound was heard, save the Captain's now frantic pleas. The hum of the engine wasn't even present. The silence was stifling and Dean suddenly wanted to get off of this ship as fast as possible. It didn't feel like home anymore…it felt more like a coffin.

"Dean…" Death was starting to sound impatient, but Dean wasn't listening. The resounding echo of his voice was like a punch to the chest.

"Sam? Bobby?...Anna!? Gabe!? C'mon guys, stop messing around! Balthazar! Friggin Meg! Anyone!"

Death had seemed to have heard enough and got right up in Dean's panicked face. "Enough of this. Stop your howling and let's get this over with." Death gestured sharply for them to get a move on.

Dean was too frantic to really pay attention. He was still looking for the answering call of anyone of his makeshift family.

"Cas!? Please, Cas! Where are you! Answer me damnit!" He turned to Death, wishing that the imposing figure would smile and say it was all some elaborate joke, but instead he saw the Reaper's back turned and walking away. Not wishing to be alone in any way, even if his company was a freaking Reaper. He tears after the slim form and wraps his arms around himself tightly, trying to get back some warmth.

_As I lay me down to sleep, I pray to Castiel to get his flighty ass down here._

* * *

Death led Dean out of the metal corpse and out to what seemed to be a creepy graveyard for ships. It looked to be late in the night, dark and with the heavy mists of midnight. All around were old vessels in different levels of rust and disrepair. Now out of the dark cavern of what was once his home, Dean started to get angry.

"What the hell did you do to them?! Where are they? What the fuck happened here?" He demanded, practically spitting with the ferocity behind his words.

But Death didn't look the least bit cowed by the Captain's outburst.

"I didn't do anything personally here. All that you see here…." He gestures around them, "happened because of some choices made, and poorly handled situations."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you. You have a bad habit of keeping people at extremes. Either you keep them at arm's length, not letting them in and keeping your thoughts and _feelings_ to yourself. Or…you grip too tightly. Holding those you care for to higher standards, like they aren't allowed to make mistakes. There is very little give to this. No in between. They fail you or you fail them. And because of that philosophy…you lost everything."

Dean had never been so confused.

"What happened here?" He asked in a dead voice. He just wanted to know why he was feeling this vast empty feeling. Dean didn't get a verbal answer, but Death snapped his fingers and Dean felt an agonizing pull that reached his insides, but the feeling disappeared as soon as Dean saw that they were in a completely new area. It was an alarmingly white room with padded walls. It was practically blinding.

It took a moment for Dean's eyes to adjust. When he could finally look in front of himself without squinting, he saw Death standing there. He stood out from the white walls like an inky shadow.

"Where are we?" Dean hated that his voice quivered when he asked this.

"We are in the Host."

Dean's heart clenched, "Cas…"

"Yes, your little friend." He smiled sickly. "After some time, something happened where Gabriel and Balthazar could no longer trust you to keep Castiel safe and they left, taking a kicking and screaming Cas with them. And you let them go. You agreed with them that Castiel was better off far away from you and your influence….Keeping him at arm's length you might say." He sent a meaningful glance at the Captain. "After leaving your ship the brothers were able to keep just ahead of the Garrison for a while, but eventually they became tired, and got sloppy. And inevitably they were caught. Balthazar was sent to a Garrison prison, and Gabriel and Castiel were sent back to the Host."

"They're still alive?" Dean asked hopefully. Death shrugged and pointed his chin to the part of the room behind Dean. Turning, Dean's blood froze.

There was Castiel. Flesh and blood. At first Dean was overjoyed to see that his friend was still alive, even in this dark looking future. But then Dean got closer…. He was skinny. Far too skinny, wearing white scrubs and appeared to have a decent amount of stubble growing. His pupils were blown out completely from whatever drugs they had floating through his system. He was laying on the ground in the fetal position, shivering. Dean hadn't noticed the soft noises before, but now they seemed like the loudest thing in the room.

Cas was humming his favorite octave again, but it sounded different. This time it sounded more like a long sob or whine that cut right through Dean. He was staring off into nothing.

"Can he see us?"

"This is the future, Dean. What do you think?"

Dean didn't know what to think at this point, but he moved closer to Cas and reached out a hand to stroke his friend's cheek. For a second, it looked like Cas saw him when his blue eyes widened just a bit, but then the dead look came back, the drugs holding back whatever was left of the young man. He was as lifeless as the Impala.

"What the hell happened to you?" He whispers brokenly. He got no answer. Dean continued to stroke Cas' hair while the other man continued to moan. The captain didn't even notice when Death came up behind him.

"Life." He stated and snapped his fingers again.

* * *

This time they landed in a messy looking hut. It looked like it might have once been a tool shed for a farm, but had been refitted to serve as some sort of housing. Glancing around, Dean spotted Chuck at the crooked table. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hair was wild, clothes were rumpled more than usual…he was a mess.

Dean whirled on Death, "Take me back to Cas. I can get him out of there."

"Come come, now Dean. Don't you want to hear the rest?"

"Will it get me back to Cas? Or how about get me back to my time faster?" Dean asked impatiently.

"You ask this like I wish to remain here any longer than I have to…Any how, here is Chuck. He ended up the best out of all of your crew it seems." He gestured to the squirrely looking Chuck, trembling over the table.

"Just tell me what happened to everyone." Just rip off the band aid, thought Dean. Or maybe in this case, re-setting a dislocated shoulder if we're going off of pain levels.

Death rolled his eyes again and started the tail, sounding amazingly bored. "After the Novak's left, you became cold. You had failed your best friend and it turned you bitter, so the whole crew had to suffer naturally. First to leave was Anna. She stayed on your ship to feel the wonderful familial aspect and human emotion. The only emotion left on that boat after the brothers left was dark. She is now a private companion for some Garrison politician who treats her like a slave."

Dean pictures Zachariah getting his hands on Anna again, sucking the humanity out of her.

"After that Meg left because she found better work elsewhere…with Crowley. Then Crowley found out that she betrayed him and she is being hunted down like an animal. She will be caught soon enough. Bobby moved on not long after, having lost faith in you…perhaps losing faith in more than that as well. He's now a drunk who takes care of the junkyard that holds your decrepit ship." Death sounded amused by this for whatever reason. Dean was hearing nothing funny.

"And Chuck here was last to leave. You had become reckless, and Chuck, the poor sensitive mechanic, couldn't handle it. So he left and now he lives on this farm fixing tractors and writing the tragic story of the ship The Impala and Winchester brothers."

At the mention of brothers, Dean's head shot up. "What happened to Sam?" He almost didn't want to ask, but then he couldn't live with himself if he didn't at least try to find out where he had ended up.

Death met the Captain's frightened eyes, and snapped his fingers again.

* * *

It was dark and the air held some moldy scent. Beneath his feet was soggy ground that squished every time he adjusted his feet.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the dark, Dean saw that he was standing among a bunch of carved stones. Upon closer inspection, he saw that they were tombstones. His stomach dropped out. He was in a graveyard.

"No." He practically whined. He looked to Death asking him if this was for real. The dark figure only nodded off to the left, and Dean followed the gesture. Off under one of the trees was a lone stone. Dean walked towards it, his heart beating faster and faster as he took each step. Finally reaching the rock, he saw the name there, ripping out any doubt as to who was buried there.

SAMUEL WINCHESTER

"No." He sobbed.

"Yes. Your brother stayed with you to the very end. Not that you would have let him go any way. But your reckless behavior got you two into trouble and he ended up getting killed because of it."

"I would have let him go. I let him go to college." Dean argued.

Death scoffed, "After losing everything else, do you really think that you would let Sam walk away? He was all you had left." He said skeptically.

Dean couldn't argue. He didn't have the strength. Here he was looking Death in the face and tracing his finger over the carved name of his little brother. When he finished tracing the R, he stood up and turned, anger flaring again.

"This is ridiculous. You can't expect me to believe all this."

Death shrugged, "I suppose I can't. But if you do not change your ways, then you stand a good chance of having all of this coming to fruition."

"You can't lead me to believe that just because I don't sing carols or dress up like Santa that Sam is going to die and Cas is going to be turned into a basket case…more of a basket case."

A chuckle came from Deaths mouth. It sounded like gravel being blended, not very pleasant. "No, I don't expect you to believe that. But I do expect you to believe that if you continue to treat your friends like you do, they will drift away. And when they leave, you won't be able to stop what's to come. I don't give a damn about Christmas. This has nothing to do with celebrating the silly holiday or the religious aspects of it, it was just convenient timing for you to get closer to your "family". "

The clamp around Dean's heart loosened a little bit. "So I can fix this." He said it like a statement, but really it was a hopeful question.

His answer was a casual shrug, "That's up to you Dean. You change your ways, and stop pushing away those you care about….then maybe your future will look less like this one."

Maybe….thought Dean.

Before he could ask another question, Death snapped his fingers again.

"Goodbye Dean. I'll be seeing you again when the time comes."

Dean's insides lurched once more.

* * *

And next chapter is fluff fluff fluff and more fluff!


	4. Chapter 4

Notes: Last chapter for this fic guys! Thank to all of you who took time to read it. I do hope you enjoy the last installment. And the first chapter of the next episode has been posted! Please check out Impala series Part V: Ain't We Just!

Disclaimer: (3 )&$*& )#$ a kahfakjha haa jlkvh ; WHY ISN"T IT MINE?!

* * *

CHAPTER 4

"Dean! Dean!"

Dean woke up to Cas' frantic yelling and terrified eyes that were practically alight. He was being shaken by his shoulders as Cas started to lose his composure, his blue eyes starting to fill with tears. Somewhere in the back of his mind Dean hated that he was the cause of those tears and how he would do anything to make sure that Cas remained safe and as happy as possible. Never to become a lifeless shell like… Dean immediately shot up from where he was laying on the ground, almost smashing his head into Cas who was bent over him. Castiel swooped back in immediately.

"Dean? Dean are you alright?" Cas asked while running his hands over the back of the Captain's head looking for the injury. Dean slapped his hands away, distracted with the thoughts from his dream…message…warning?

"M'fine" He muttered trying to get his feet under him, but it was hard to do because Cas was trying to hold him down.

"You hit your head so hard! The floor vibrated!" Cas whispered, like loud noises might finally shatter Dean's skull. He continued to inspect the Captain's head, but Dean would have nothing of it, he had to fix things as best he could. There was no way that he would allow that future to happen. He whirled on Cas, grabbed his shoulder and caught his eye, startling the frazzled man.

"Don't ever leave." He said firmly to Cas, never breaking eye contact.

"What?"

Dean shook his head and started looking around the hallway with darting eyes looking for any signs of the rust or neglect that had been in that hellish future. Not seeing any hint of the damage, Dean whirled back on Cas, piercing the poor confused man with his gaze again. "Just…how long was out for?" When Cas didn't answer right away, Dean moved up right into his personal space, squeezing Cas' shoulders tightly.

"How long!?"

Castiel looked more than lost. When Dean had gone down, he was unconscious upon impact. For a horrible second Cas thought the injury would be too much for him to fix, darting forward he had started to feel around Dean's head, trying to locate the wound, and now he had woken up…like this.

"…..Approximately 32 seconds," he answered quietly. He didn't add that those 32 seconds were among the longest he had ever experienced. But Dean looked pleased with this, very pleased.

"32 seconds! So it's still Christmas?" There was still time, thought Dean.

Cas did a mental count, "For another 6 hours and 14 minutes." He was about to reach forward to inspect Dean's head again. He thought he had already fixed the damage, but Dean was acting strangely.

"Awesome." And Dean tore off down the hall, leaving the cows behind and Castiel behind. One cow mooed loudly next to Castiel as he remained on the floor, to shocked with Dean's behavior to move. The cow startled the young man into action and Cas tore off to follow after Dean frantically trying to catch up with him. Dean's behavior was really starting to alarm Cas.

* * *

Dean's first destination seemed to be the control room where he reached for the comm. box, Cas only a few paces behind him now. He only paused to switch on the call system, and then Dean happily spoke into the mic, slapping Castiel's hands away as he yet again tried to explore Dean's head for more injuries.

"Okay Santa's little helpers, we've got some more chores today! Not done just yet, I'm afraid."

All around the ship the crew braced themselves.

Dean continued, "So! Bobby and Anna, I want you two in the kitchen on the double making us some roast protein. Chuck, get the damn string of light bulbs up in the dining area, Meg you help him. Everyone go to the kitchen to help out with anything Anna and Bobby might need. Get to work!"

He hung up the mic and turned smiling to an opened mouthed Cas.

"Dean I would like to inspect your head again. I'm afraid I might have missed something…" Cas started. From behind them Sam was jogging towards them, a concerned look on his face.

"What's going on?" He asked, clearly confused with the recent announcement. He had torn himself away from Gabriel to make sure that Dean hadn't gotten into the hard liquor or hit his head. Bringing his attention to Castiel first, he asked, "What's going on here?"

Castiel looked worriedly at Sam with very wide and frightened eyes, "I think Dean's broken."

Taken back, Sam brought his attention to his older brother, "You okay, man?"

Sam's answer was Dean coming forward quickly and drawing his brother into a quick embrace, "Merry Christmas dude. Now let's get to work. Only…." Dean looked at Cas.

"6 hours and 10 minutes." Cas supplied dutifully.

"6 hours and 10 minutes left of Christmas. So go make sure everyone in helping out in the kitchen. I expect fancy cooked protein by 20:00 hours!" He pushed Sam in the direction of the kitchen and then turned back to slightly panicking Castiel once Sam had gone off to follow his Captain's orders. Even if Sam was somewhat hesitant to leave Dean in this condition….

"C'mon buddy. I need your help with something…" Said Dean smiling at Cas.

* * *

The dining area was bustling with happy, if not confused energy. Bobby and Anna were puttering away in the attached kitchen, preparing an entire protein block with any and all spices that they found around the ship. Gabriel had donated some of his chocolate stash to share for a dessert once the meal was finished, and even Meg looked excited at the idea of some real chocolate to share.

Chuck and Meg had finished re-assembling the "chain of lights" that now was being hung up around the edges of the room. It wasn't particularly pretty, or elegant in any way, but it made everyone smile when the normal lights were turned down and the room was only lit by Chuck's creation and Anna's candles.

Along with the lovely aromas coming from the oven, there were the scented candles burning around the room where Anna had brought out all of the candles that she had in her shuttle and lighted them, spreading them out over the whole room, adding a glow to the dark corners. If anyone noticed Meg taking eight of the candles and lining them up in a row on one of the side tables, nobody said anything.

Gabriel and Sam were trying to make some kind of punch drink for everyone, mixing up some of the canned juices. The younger Winchester was pretending not to notice Gabriel spiking the punch. Although, at this point it seemed like there was more booze in the punch than actually juice. Whatever.

Balthazar was sneaking around to each of the doorframes and hanging up mistletoe, snickering to himself. After the first few were put up, he then started to pull anyone walking by under the plants with him, but so far he met nothing but resistance.

A great cheer resounded in the room when Dean and Cas appeared with Fern. The plant was still sickly looking, but that was mostly covered up by the strips of shirt that were made into garlands and draped around its branches and vines. It looked like they had hung up all of Castiel's tin foil creations on the tree like they were ornaments. The weight of the pieces were pulling down on the vines, but to everyone who looked upon the makeshift Christmas tree, it was beautiful.

As dinner drew nearer, Balthazar stopped trying to molest all of the passing crew members, and instead started to set the table with the newly acquired plastic plates and dish wear that were the honorable survivors of Castiel's voice. Cups were filled with whiskey and punch, and everyone's tummies were pleasantly warm from the alcohol.

Nobody said a word about in question or curiosity as to why Dean had changed his mind, even if Castiel kept poking at Dean's head, as if looking for something amiss.

Then finally it was time to eat. Everyone gathered around the table. Castiel sat between his two brothers. Bobby and Sam sat on either side of Dean, and everyone else happily seated at the table with them. The whole makeshift family assembled.

They all paused before eating, looking between Dean and Bobby, not sure if any sort of grace could be said. But Dean nodded with a small smile at the preacher, and that was all the permission that Bobby and the rest of the crew needed. They all grabbed hands, Meg might have gripped Chuck and Anna's hands like they were wet and smelly fish, but she didn't say anything. Once heads were bowed, and some eyes closed, the Sheppard started his grace.

"We have many reasons to be thankful today, and I wish to remind us all of that fact. We are forever thankful to have our family and friends all here with us, safe, healthy, and happy…"

Dean glanced at Sam, who was there, warm and alive. Not dead because of a bullet in his belly. Sam who was always there, always there to have Dean's back. And Dean promised himself that he would always have Sam's back as well.

He then glanced at the Novaks, sitting across from him. He could see how tight Balthazar and Gabriel were gripping Castiel's hands, but it wasn't a desperate grip. It was more of an assuring grip. They were all together again, and they were not letting go anytime soon.

"…Despite the hardships of these past few months, we are grateful for the unity and grace you have bestowed upon us…."

Dean peaked at Chuck , Meg and Anna. Three incredibly different people, but there they were holding hands…sort of. They had never been particularly close before the crew of the Impala grew, but the changes in the ship and the many trying adventures and mishaps that had found them recently….it had unified them in some ways.

"….As we sit down to eat this hastily assembled dinner, I ask you to strengthen us with this food, help us make wise decisions, and provide us with the strength to carry them through…"

The visual's of what Dean had seen during his time with Death cycled through his head. In the near future, maybe even today, Dean would have to make decisions that could lead them into that hellish universe. Dean could only pray that he had enough strength to make and support any decisions he made in the years to come.

"….As we celebrate this day, we will remember the countless blessings in our lives which we are so thankful for. Family. Friends. Our Souls. Home. Life….We remember all that is behind why we celebrate this season. So we give thanks….Amen."

Everyone else mumbled their own "amens." But Castiel was fidgeting in his seat, clearly agitated about something.

"Did I forget something, son?" asked Bobby kindly.

Cas nodded solemnly, "God bless us, everyone." He stated firmly, and everyone smiles softly.

Except for Meg, she snorts quietly and reaches for the stale bread rolls. Her actions break the spell over the crew and the noise levels go up in the room, everyone asking for different food plates to be passed, or commenting on the smell. The Impala had never felt more alive.

Dean hadn't even noticed that he hadn't moved and was smiling stupidly at his crew around him until Sam pushed the roast protein under his nose, asking if Dean was alright. Dean offered him a half grin.

"Yeah, Sammy. I'm fine. Now let me have some of this nasty crap."

* * *

After dinner was even better. It seemed like everyone was glowing with happiness.

Gabriel and Chuck had hooked up the comm. box to Anna's music records, one of which was even a holiday themed one. Now the Impala was resounding with old holiday music.

The special juice punch was almost all gone and everyone was feeling a pleasant buzz and all inhibitions of were lost.

Dean remembering Bobby's past holidays got Sam to join him in a butchering rendition of Silent Night for the Sheppard's benefit while the brothers had friendly arms slung over each other's shoulders. It was truly the best and worst Christmas carol that the Preacher had ever listened to.

Gabriel had crumpled up and also ripped up old scrap paper and was having a paper fight with Castiel in some odd mix of confetti/ snowball fight, that Meg violently joined when one stray paper ball hit her head.

When the blood alcohol content had finally reached the point of blissful ignorance, Meg moved to the side of the room to pick at leftovers, Bobby joining her with a small glass of whiskey, and the other people started to pair up to dance.

Balthazar had swooped in on Anna, swinging her around and dipping her low when the song slowed. Sam and Gabriel were dancing together, blissfully unaware of the awkward height difference between the two, just content to be in each other's arms for the night.

Cas, who had been sitting next to Dean by the wall was suddenly swooped up by Balthazar and brought to the center of the "dance floor" and was being spun around by an overly enthusiastic brother. Anna, now without a partner, grabbed at Dean's hand and dragged him out of the floor before he could protest.

Dean found himself enjoying this simple dancing more that the fancy stepping kind that had been at the fancy party not too long ago. Anna was even more fun to dance with in this setting, and Dean never felt the need to watch his footing. Glancing over at Castiel, he saw Balthazar dramatically pulling Castiel along in what looked like some exaggerated form of tango. He was practically dragging Cas around by his armpits, but the younger man seemed okay with it all, if not a little confused with the sleeves of his trench coat getting bunched up on his shoulders awkwardly.

The captain smiled broadly when Cas finally caught his eye, and the smaller man smiled back, even if it became more of a grimace when Balthazar tried to dip his partner and almost ended up dropping him.

Sam and Gabe continued to dance slowly together, not paying attention to the chaos of the dancing brother's beside them, but they did strategically drift off to the side of the dance floor, giving Balthazar a wide berth for his spectacular flourishes of dance.

Chuck, who had reached a saturation point of alcohol and had been half passed out on the table, had sobered up enough to stumble over to Meg and Bobby without passing out. It looked to Dean like he was asking Bobby to dance, but he was probably aiming for Meg and was just too drunk to notice that it was in fact the preacher he was propositioning. Next to Bobby, Meg had rolled her eyes and handed Chuck another bottle of liquor. Chuck took it enthusiastically and took a big gulp. Seemingly satisfied, and perhaps forgetting the reason he had gone over in the first place, he stumbled back to his spot at the table, smiling on his way over.

Dean shrugged. It was truly a special moment for Meg to have not slapped the mechanic, and instead just sent him off with a distraction. She must have been in a really good mood, and Chuck wouldn't even remember being brushed off come morning.

Anna had been watching Dean's wandering eyes during the dance, and seemed to come to a decision when she saw her captain's eyes fall upon Castiel yet again. She turned herself and Dean so that she was within range of Balthazar's flourishes and gestured with her head to catch the middle Novak's attention.

They exchanged nods of the head, chin gesturing, and smiles for a few moments, and then they seemed to have come to an agreement on something. Castiel was too focused on trying to make sure his feet stayed under him to notice the change in dance with Balthazar, and Dean was pliant enough for Anna to change their pace as well. With one last nod of her head, she and Balthazar spun from their partner's arms and the momentum sent Cas and Dean slamming into each other's chest.

Behind them Anna and Balthazar moved to grab new partners, Balthazar grabbing the half asleep Chuck, and Anna pulling out the now blushing Sheppard. The new couples started to dance in a confining circle around Cas and Dean, making it almost impossible for them to leave the dance floor.

Dean might have noticed what was going on if he hadn't had as much spiked punch as he had, but for now he simply shrugged and held out his hand for Castiel who took it only after a moment's hesitation.

Then there were four dancing couples on the floor. Meg was happy to have all of the leftovers to herself now, and she dug in contentedly.

It seemed that Sam could only keep Gabriel distracted for so long, and now the prankster was coming out again. The pilot had started to angle his and Sam's dancing back onto the dance floor. Once back among the throng of people, he started to "accidentally" bump into couples, attempting to send them into one of the doorframes that just happened to hold a stem of mistletoe. The first "couple" bumped into the doorway, were Chuck and Balthazar.

Of course Balthazar was very happy to plant a nice wet on a very confused Chuck. Sam silently wished that he could have taken a photo to show Chuck of the incident later, because at the mechanics state of inebriation there was little chance of him remembering it come morning.

Gabe spent about ten minutes trying to get the angle right to push Bobby and Anna under the same doorway, but the Preacher knew exactly what was going on and was avoiding Sam and Gabriel…and the doorway like the 7 plagues. Anna was laughing merrily as Bobby moved them sporadically around the dance floor.

But Dean and Cas were taking little notice of those around them. They seemed to be caught in one another's gazes, and were dancing slowly as if not really thinking about pace of the song…maybe not even hearing the song. Sam and Gabriel exchanged glances once more and smirked to one another. They then started to angle towards their brothers.

With a gentle shove, Cas and Dean were sent sprawling onto the floor, Dean landing on top of Cas.

Dean pushed himself up on his forearms so that he could see Castiel's face, to check for any indication of pain cause by their landing.

"Cas, you okay?" He asked concerned, but Cas didn't look at Dean. He was staring straight up above them, a strange look on his face. Dean scrunched up his own face in confusion before turning his head to see what had caught Cas' attention.

There above them was an innocently hanging bunch of mistletoe tied with a red ribbon.

The Captains face flushed beat red and he turned back to face Castiel to see that he too was blushing quite a bit.

Dean smiled softly at the man sprawled beneath him, and he smiled back just as softly. Their eyes met shyly….

* * *

Bwah ha ha! The END! Happy Holidays My Dears! My gift to you is the next chapter of the Impala series is up, so check it out!


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